Dawn Primarolo: A new double taxation agreement with Macedonia wassigned on 8 November 2006. After signature, the text of the agreement was deposited in the Libraries of both Houses and made available on HM Revenue and Customs' website. The text of the agreement will be scheduled to a draft order in council and laid before the House of Commons in due course.

David Miliband: Today we are publishing the "Social Enterprise action plan: Scaling new heights".
	There are at least 55,000 social enterprises in the UK, generating more than £27 billion turnover and contributing more than £8 billion to GDP a year.
	Since the launch of the Government social enterprise strategy in 2002, the Government have created a new legal form, the community interest company; improved business support and advice and the availability of finance; and supported the establishment of the social enterprise coalition to provide a unified voice for the sector to work with Government in raising the profile of social enterprise.
	Building on this progress, the action plan is about creating the conditions for social enterprises to thrive as part of a next phase of support, and sets out the Government's role to take actions forward as part of their continuing commitment to social enterprise.
	This action plan commits us to:
	Fostering a culture of social enterprise, by building the evidence and raising awareness of the impact of social enterprise, and promoting successful role models to attract new entrants, customers, financiers and support providers.
	Ensuring that the right information and advice are available to those running social enterprises so that they can gain access to appropriate support to maximise their business performance and, in turn, their social impact.
	Enabling social enterprises to access appropriate finance, by tackling barriers that might prevent investors from supporting social enterprises, or social enterprises from seeking financial support.
	Enabling social enterprises to work with Government, where they can offer public benefits in the markets they operate in, ensuring that policy makers and commissioners are aware of the role they can play.
	Copies of the action plan have been placed in the Library for the reference of Members and are also available in the Vote Office.
	The action plan is also available on the Cabinet Office website at www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/thirdsector.

Derek Twigg: I am pleased to be able to provide further details of our plans to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Falklands conflict inJune 2007.
	The commemorations will provide us with an opportunity to reflect on the events of 25 years ago. We will take time to remember those who gave their lives to defend the freedom of the Falkland Islands. As well as the principal events in London, Pangbourne and Stanley, we anticipate that local communities and veterans' groups around the country may wish to organise their own smaller scale events.
	Our relationship with Argentina has come a long way in recent years and, in addition to remembering the sacrifices of our forces, we will recognise their losses too. Our commemorations will not be triumphalist.
	Official events begin on Liberation Day Thursday14 June at the Falkland Islands Memorial Chapel in the grounds of Pangbourne Nautical College, Berkshire. This service of commemoration and remembrance is held annually on behalf of the Falklands Families Association, but will have special significance in 2007 when it will be attended by senior members of the royal family, and carried live on BBC.
	Later that day (UK time) attention will turn to the Falkland Islands and the first of a series of live link-ups with the islands. A service at Christchurch Cathedral, Stanley will be followed by an Act of Commemoration at the Falklands War Memorial, and British Forces currently based on the islands will parade through Stanley exercising the freedom that was bestowed on them by the Falkland Islands Government in 2002.
	The showpiece event of these commemorations will be on Sunday 17 June. This will consist of a high impact visual event on Horse Guards parade followed by a march past of veterans and their modern day service counterparts up the Mall to Buckingham palace to witness a fly past of aircraft from the Falklands era as well as some of those flown by the same squadrons today. Central to the event will be the personal recollections of veterans and islanders as they tell their stories in their own words.
	The events will be focussed on the veterans andtheir families and we are working closely with the South Atlantic Medal Association 82—the principal association for those involved in 'Operation Corporate', along with a wide range of veterans and families organisations. I hope that as many as possible of the campaign's veterans will be able to attend the event on Horse Guards parade. Space in the audience will be limited, so tickets will initially be restricted to veterans (military and civilian), widows, their guests and families. Details can be found on the Veterans Agency's website at: www.veteransagency.mod.ukor by contacting the Veterans' Agency helpline on0800 169 2277.
	A limited number of seats for the Horse Guards event are available to hon. Members; the Speaker's Office will issue tickets in due course.

Patricia Hewitt: On 9 November 2006, my Department published the NHS financial report for the second quarter of 2006-07. This report shows that the NHS as a whole is forecasting a £94 million deficit for the year, after the application of a £350 million contingency established by the strategic health authorities.
	On the basis of trends in previous years, our objective of net financial balance across the NHS remains deliverable. Strategic health authorities have reported that they will be able to generate a further net contingency of £100 million to offset the deficit.
	The report is available in the Library, and copies for hon. Members and noble Lords are available in the Vote Office and the Printed Paper Office. The report has also been published on the Department's website at:
	http://www.dh.gov.uk/PublicationsAndStatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidanceArticle/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=4140436&chk=WmhHTZ

Tony McNulty: On 6 November the police arbitration tribunal's recommendation on the police officer 2006 pay award was received. The Home Secretary responded to this recommendation, agreeing to implement the 3 per cent. pay rise for police officers with effect from 1 September 2006. The Home Secretary also noted the tribunal's comment that we not only had "the right but a duty to consider and put forward different factors and approaches which could be applied in determining police pay" and said that he would be reviewing the way police pay is determined including indexation and would announce the terms of reference of the review shortly.
	Effective pay arrangements for police officers are essential for a modern police service which delivers high standards of community safety and security to the public. We must move quickly to put police officer pay on a sustainable basis. We cannot continue with arrangements which produce pay rises beyond the level which police authorities can afford to pay without detriment to service delivery. For that reason, we will establish a review of the way police pay is determined, reporting early in the new year and in good time to inform the 2007 pay round. Following this I will also be asking this review to consider further changes to the police pay negotiating machinery. In particular, I am minded to place responsibility for determining chief officer pay within the remit of the senior salaries review body and the review I have announced will look atthis as part of its consideration of the options for replacing the current police officer pay determination arrangements.
	I have asked Sir Clive Booth to undertake the first part of this review and I am pleased to announce that he has accepted. Sir Clive will report to me in early 2007 with recommendations on the pay determination mechanism that we should use for next year. This along with any other proposals for pay modernisation from the service or representative organisations will be considered in the 2007 pay round. The Home Secretary and I will consider further how the second part of the review looking at the police negotiating machinery should be take forward including consideration ofJohn Randall's report on this issue.
	The terms of reference for the review are:
	Part 1—To consider the options for replacing the current arrangements for determining changes to police officer pay for 2007 and make recommendations on this. The conclusions and recommendations in part 1 to be framed so as to inform part 2 of the review.
	Part 2—To review the effectiveness of the negotiating machinery for the police, including the Police Negotiating Board and the Police Staff Council, and make recommendations for how police pay and other conditions of service should be determined. The review must consider the option of a pay review body for police pay and consider the impact of any proposal for determining police officer pay, on the negotiating machinery for police officers.
	Both parts of the review must take account of the need for arrangements to reflect and support the following:
	The future requirements of the service for the effective and efficient delivery of policing services, motivation and morale and recruitment and retention rates, and overall affordability.
	Government policy on public sector pay and the broader economic and employment context, and consistency with the achievement of the inflation target of 2 per cent.
	The need to enable wider police workforce developments including proper reward and recognition arrangements.
	Arrangements for pay determination in other parts of the public sector.
	Part 1 should report no later than February 2007, and part 2 in the autumn of 2007.

Jack Straw: Listed below are those Bills which the Government intend to bring forward. Details of each of these Bills are available from the Leader of the House of Commons website www.CommonsLeader.gov.uk
	1) Asylum and Immigration
	2) Child Support
	3) Climate Change
	4) Concessionary Bus Travel
	5) Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress
	6) Counter terrorism(1)
	7) Criminal Justice
	8) Further Education
	9) Fraud (Trials without a Jury)
	10) Greater London Authority
	11) House of Lords
	12) Justice and Security (Northern Ireland)
	13) Local Government
	14) Mental Health
	15) Northern Ireland (St Andrew's Agreement)(2)
	16) Offender Management
	17) Organised Crime
	18) Pensions
	19) Statistics and Registration Services
	20) Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement
	21) Welfare reform (carryover)
	22) Corporate Manslaughter and Homicide (carryover)
	23) Crossrail (carryover)
	24) Digital Switchover (Disclosure of Information)
	25) Legal Services
	26) Exchanges and Clearing Houses
	27) Party Funding
	Draft Bills
	1) Human Tissues and Embryos
	2) Road Transport
	3) Hague Convention (Artefacts in War)
	4) Local Better Regulation Office
	(1) The Counter-terrorism Bill will be introduced if needed following a review being chaired by the Home Secretary.
	(2) The Northern Ireland (St Andrew's ) Bill will be brought forward as an emergency measure early in the Session.

Peter Hain: The Government are committed to tackling poverty and social exclusion in Northern Ireland.
	On 13 November I published "Lifetime Opportunities"—Government's Anti-Poverty and Social Inclusion strategy for Northern Ireland. This follows extensive public consultation on the future direction of New Targeting Social Need (New TSN) policy in Northern Ireland and the results of an independent evaluation of New TSN.
	The new strategy will aim to:
	end child poverty by 2020—based on the estimate of approximately 130,000 children in relative income poverty in 1998-99 this means lifting 65,000 children out of poverty by 2010 on the way to eradiation by 2020; and
	working towards eliminating poverty and social exclusion in Northern Ireland by 2020.
	It will retain some important elements of its predecessor New TSN such as Promoting Social Inclusion (PSI) and the principle of targeting resources and effort within programmes at those areas, groups and individuals in greatest objective need. Significant changes include the introduction of a new structure, based on four key life cycles highlighting the important issues impacting on a person at these different stages of their life and a goal for each highlighting what Government wish to achieve.
	The commitment to end child poverty is in line with the UK target of halving child poverty by 2010 with the view to eradicating child poverty by 2020.
	A key feature of the strategy will be the establishment of a ministerial-led interdepartmental, cross-sectoral forum to monitor progress. Subject to the establishment of a Nl executive, it is intended that the forum will be chaired by my right hon. Friend, the Minister of State for Northern Ireland (David Hanson), who has lead responsibility for taking forward work to tackle poverty and social exclusion in Northern Ireland.
	Copies of "Lifetime Opportunities" have been placed in the Libraries of the House and is also available on website www.ofmdfmni.gov.uk/central-anti-poverty-unit.

Jim Fitzpatrick: The Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council was held on 7 November in Brussels. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, represented the UK for discussions on an amended proposal for a directive concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time.
	Negotiations focused around the opt-out from the48 hour working week and the need for a solution to the problems caused by the European Court judgments SiMAP and Jaeger. The presidency sought views during the morning discussion on a draft presidency text of the directive. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of the presidency and their subsequent tabling of an alternative section of text, it proved impossible to reach agreement due to the refusal of a minority of five countries to agree any text that did not set an end date for the opt-out.

Stephen Ladyman: I have today launched a public consultation on roadside facilities on England's strategic road network. The consultation will run for12 weeks and comprises a call for evidence on a number of issues for consideration, with a view to improving services for road users. In particular the document seeks views on:
	The location of motorway service areas (MSAs)—determining the need for such sites and the spacing interval between them;
	facilities at MSAs—the type of facilities, how they are signed and their standards;
	service areas on trunk roads;
	motorway picnic areas;
	lorry parking; and
	the provision and use of laybys.
	Following the public consultation, new draft guidance will be issued for consideration before the final new policy is published.
	Copies of the consultation document have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.